


Any Ruffian of the Sky

by natalexx



Category: Battlestar Galactica (2003), Firefly
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2006-08-18
Updated: 2006-08-17
Packaged: 2017-12-03 05:21:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 12,801
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/694611
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/natalexx/pseuds/natalexx
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Some people gotta find their own way in the 'verse. But if a man needs a pilot and a pilot needs a ship, could be they'll find their way together.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Spoilers: for _Serenity_ the movie and anything through 'Lay Down Your Burdens' part 2 of _Battlestar Galactica_. This story takes place in a prospective _BSG_ future, but contains no specific spoilers for season 3. Crossover where a _BSG_ character or characters are transported to the _Firefly_ 'verse.)  
>  Title from "Your kingbird" by e.e. cummings.

"Once upon a time," River said, and Mal caught her eye across the breadth of the helm. "On a spaceship in the sky..." Her voice had gone to sing-song, the tone of which he'd heard often enough around the odd campfire of late on the more leisurely jobs.

Mal raised an eyebrow. "You fancy telling me a story, little Albatross?"

River ignored him, her gaze fixed outside. "There lived a lonely man," she said finally, "who was eaten up. All gone," she spread the fingers of her hands in front of her face and wriggled them. She looked over at him and said simply, "Never saw it coming."

Mal grimaced, more'n a little unnerved by River's macabre sense of humor. "Think we've had this conversation more'n one time, and my answer has been clear, little one."

She crossed her arms and refused to look at him. "We're near," she announced. "Nearer than you think."

He looked back to his gauges and saw, indeed, that the planet was coming up quickly. "Trying to tell me something about this job, little one?" he asked as he levelled out the ship. Her hands remained in her lap, and he sure could have used her hand on the wheel. He was a passable pilot only, and he wasn't so puffed-up he couldn't admit it. River's gift might have been odd and off-putting, but she came through too often to doubt it. Still, she would have to make her point, he supposed.

"Same as always," she sighed. "Things go wrong." She curled in on herself. "I sit in the ship and listen but I can't pass on the message, I can't do anything but wait--bird in a cage and you're gilding my feathers!" Abruptly, she lept to her feet and left him there with one hand on the controls and somewhat little alarmed.

He brought the ship in fine, but by sundown the girl again proved herself right, and he sat at the dinner table a few pints lighter and still a mite woozy, much as he'd hate to admit it. River was still riding herd, silent and sullen, and Mal'd conjure it spoke to his exasperation that it was Simon who finally asked why she didn't just follow them out on the job if she was so certain one of them'd wind up hurt.

River made no bones about her attitude, sighing deeply. She was picking at her food as bad as Zoe, and Mal was less inclined to allow her excuses. "Have to follow orders," she said, tossing back her hair. She tilted her chin delicately. "To be lead one has to be leadable."

"Alrght, Miss fancy-pants," Mal grumbled. He was reluctant to hear such talk at the table, though he knew it to be well-founded. There was far less jobs available to them that couldn't have benefited from River's presence, one way or t'other. "I can't have you out on jobs when I need you flying the ship."

Zoe interrupted by shoving her plate toward the center of the table. Jayne was happy enough to snatch her leftover biscuit for himself, as he usually did. "Think it's obvious what needs to be done," she said before looking up. "We need a new pilot."

Mal looked at her in silence, reluctant to answer favorably. He knew how it pained her to be reasonable concerning this, and just as well how she wouldn't accept foolishness as charity.

Mal just didn't know how to fight good sense.

* * *

If it was possible, the docks on this side of Persephone smelled even worse than the last time she was here. The planet itself wasn't half bad a place to be stranded and jobless; ships came through regular enough, often looking to add on crew, and she'd hired on from here more than anywhere else, as a relief pilot or a minor mechanic or even, if she were hungry enough, temporary deckhand. Just as long as she was flying. The ground hadn't been her friend in awhile, and she spent most of her shore time frequenting bars where she was sure to get free beer, and sometimes an invitation for dinner. Most the time, they only expected laughs in return.

When she walked into her favorite bar at the end of Eavesdown Docks, she was greeted by name. Place was about as close to home as home had become.

"Thrace! Where in the 'verse have you been? We expected you'd either be dead or sold to slavers now."

She slid up onto a barstool and took the drink Lem offered her. "Spent some time on a shithole moon at the end of the 'verse. Persephone might as well be the home of the gods after." She raised her glass to him, as he grinned. When she drank it, she started to cough. "Frak, you're the only bar I know that doesn't water down the beer."

He snorted. "Missed your business around here, Thrace. Who's gonna buy the lady her next drink, huh?" He addressed the bar at large.

Kara laughed, though she expected she'd have to work her charming personality on some stiff or other before the night was out. She was down to her last few credits and wouldn't have anywhere to sleep.

"Hell, I will! Damn pretty thing, ain't seen hair like that in a *long* time." He loomed over her, almost pushing her into the bar, and breathed in her ear when he spoke. From the looks of him, he'd been drinking by himself for awhile already. He was big, and he wore a gun, but she expected he'd be easy money.

"How 'bout you take me somewhere where there's real food and you can really get to know me?" She shoved him away from her but left her hand on his arm. "I've got stories that would curl your damn beard."

Lem stood there watching them, his hands braced on the bar. Sure, it'd been awhile since she'd been in his bar, and she was inviting business somewhere else, but a girl had to eat sometime. She didn't expect the guy was a friend.

"Who needs food and talk," the man replied with a grin. "Let's get straight to it, I'll pay you for your time." He slid his hand down her thigh, direct in his intentions.

Kara had been propositioned plenty, and often enough at times she couldn't fight back, but this was *her* damn haunt and she couldn't be threated with an airlock from the ground. She popped him in the nose and kicked him in the gut with her right boot once he moved a step back. She wasn't in the mood to play nice.

His backhand caught her across the chin, less drunk than she thought. "Back off," she said, and dropped her hand to the gun on her own hip.

"Don't want no trouble," Lem inserted, resting his shotgun on the bar. "Either you both take a free drink and go on about your business or you take this outside."

The man was gingerly holding his nose. "She started it!" His hand stayed well away from his gun, though.

Kara said, "Just a misunderstanding." She glanced at Lem and shrugged. There were other places to wrangle a free meal in this town and she might take a bed in the mission at the abbey for the night. Wouldn't be the worst place she ever slept.

* * *

Kara walked the docks the next day, doing some ship-watching and greeting familiar faces to let people know she was around. Her reputation wasn't so great here that she couldn't use a little word-of-mouth. In her experience, the place to get hired was usually in the bars where the captains came to you, but it didn't hurt to have an idea what was available. Sure enough, after midday, someone came into Lem's asking for her.

"It's your lucky day," he said, pointing her out. "Only pilot in here all week."

He looked over and sized her up, and when he came, he brought two beers. She smiled. Promising. "Beer?" he offered, standing by the chair where she was cooling her heels.

"Why not," she replied easily. "Sit down, cowboy." She sat up so he could. She drank half of it while he stretched out his legs. He wasn't too impressive-looking, but he was pretty clean, so she expected he was on the more respectable end of the type of business seen around here. She wiped her lips with the back of her hand. "Did you have something in mind aside from sharing a companionable drink?"

He wasn't put off by her directness. "I captain a ship. Ship's in need of a pilot." He took a short swallow of his own beer, but she wasn't in any hurry to reply. Jobs might have been scarce, but anybody needing a pilot was either fresh off-world or had a story to tell. And he looked like he'd been around for awhile. "I also hear the bruises on my crewman's face are your doing."

She finished off her glass and asked, "Which man might that be?"

"Big fellow name of Jayne. Don't know as you would've had time for introductions--"

"He was a jackass," she replied, without inflection. She twirled the glass around by the handle

"Well, I can't disagree with you there. But Jayne does tend to be predictable when it comes to altercation. Only gets riled over 'bout three things, and one of 'em's his mama."

She shrugged. "He thought I was a hooker."

His eyebrows flew right up his forehead. "Must've been awfully drunk."

She laughed. "I worked him over pretty well."

"Jayne usually needs a punch in the face for one reason or t'other. Don't worry yourself."

As prospects went, had he not had a job to offer, it wouldn't be unpleasant to hit him up for a drink and dinner as well. She held out her hand. "Kara Thrace."

"Malcolm Reynolds," he replied. He had a firm grip. "How long you been a pilot?"

She shrugged, and went back to tracing the rim of her glass. "Joined up when I turned 18. Been flying pretty much ever since."

"You're military." His voice changed slightly.

"Not Alliance," she answered. She'd gotten this a lot. What kind of government agent would she be if she told them she was military trained right up front? Now he'd want the whole damn story. "Colonial Fleet."

"Ah." He held up his hand and Lem acknowledged him. At least he knew the way to a woman's past was through alcohol. He was still working on his own first glass. Cautious type, probably not much for holding his booze. "Heard the story on the Cortex; haven't run into your folk myself."

"Yeah, well, there aren't many of us left to run into," she replied. "Alliance pointed them toward some available planet and most of 'em stayed where they were planted." Set up houses and started popping out children, she supposed. Some people never learned.

"But not you."

She took a drink from the fresh mug. Bitterly, she replied, "When it's my time to die, I intend it to be in a cockpit."

He considered her appraisingly. She figured, a bit late, she might have scared him off. He was a more careful type than she'd dealt with in awhile. "Could be flying Alliance jets still," he remarked.

Seemed to be hung up on that. "I was asked to enlist. I didn't," she said simply. "You got a problem with the Alliance, Reynolds?" It wasn't a fair question, but she never could resist pushing somebody's buttons as long as they were presented like that.

He stood up and tossed some coin on the table. "I thank you for your time, but I run a cargo ship. Not your line of work."

She sighed. "I can fly anything given the chance," she said. "I haven't flown a jet in over a year."

He nodded down at her. "I aim to keep my options open, Thrace, but I'll keep you in mind."

"Uh huh." She glanced away. "Thanks for the drink."

* * *

When they loaded up to leave Persephone, River was irritated with him again. "Another girl beat up Jayne!" she insisted. Kaylee giggled. It wasn't Jayne who admitted to it; was River's uncanny knowing, and Mal who found the story out for himself, pure by accident down the docks.

"Does seem like a right funny coincidence," Kaylee put in. "The girl who gave Jayne that black eye and the pilot looking for a job being the very same."

"Kaylee, that's a fool notion. Ain't going to hire a body just to be tickled she beat up Jayne."

"Girl's got a mean temper anyway," Jayne grunted sullenly, going through the routine of tucking new cargo away. "She's as like to turn on all of you. Got enough of them crazy people on board as it is." He didn't look directly at River; they all knew he steered plenty clear of her lately, but they also knew who he meant.

They all ignored him.

"Get yourself upstairs, girl," Mal said, turning River around. ''See that _Serenity_ 's got a green light. I want to be in the air within the hour."

Once everything was properly secure, Mal joined River on the bridge, settling into his chair and starting the ignition sequence. River just sat there, silent and craning her neck to see out the window, though from here there'd be nothing but the tops of shanty buildings to see. He kept flipping switches until he figured she wasn't going to speak her piece unprompted. "River, you got something to say, you may as well say it."

"Won't listen anyway," she answered softly. The girl sounded nigh on close to the hurt side, which bothered him enough to wish he could do a thing about it.

"Can't know that 'less you say," he replied quietly.

She shook her head. "Have to see for yourself. Tangible, something you can touch," she said, reaching out for the wheel. She took control and lifted the ship out of its docking bay.

"River--" The ship tilted forward so he had to grab hold of the dash or fall out of his seat. He could hear dishes in the kitchen tumbling about behind him. "River!"

"Wildflower," she said quietly. "Growing by the side of the road. Don't pick it, it'll be overgrown."

He reached for the manual override. "River, level off my gorram ship."

"Look, Captain!" she insisted.

He gave up and got to his feet, half-falling, bracing himself against the control panel. He could see the dock from this angle, people milling about pointing up at him and his damn suicidal attempt to leave.

And he could, indeed, see what River intended him to see. She wasn't ducking away from the noise and the wind of the engines like the rest of them, scurrying away. She was damn hard to miss, come right to it, long as your eyes were in the right place.

"Something wrong, sir?" Zoe's voice over the intercomm was remarkable even for a woman who had to be holding on to something to stay upright.

River levelled out the ship, slowly. Mal looked over at her and scratched his head. "Take her down, River," he requested finally. He picked up the intercom. "Zoe?"

"What's going on?" Jayne yelled up to the bridge.

"Zoe, you in the cargo bay?"

"I can be, sir," she replied.

"Open up and take a look out on our doorstep, I'll be right down."

"What's going on, Cap'n?" Kaylee and Simon stumbled out of the engine room, trailing him to the top of the bay. Zoe stood in the open hatch, blocking his view. Jayne looked ready to complain, so Mal held up his hand and didn't stop on his way out of the ship.

Kara Thrace stood there on the edge of the dock, one hand on her hip over her gun and looking plenty bemused. There was a half-full rucksack by her feet. "Sure looks like you do need a pilot," she remarked coolly.

He eyed her in her battered flight jacket, the same thing he'd seen her in just last week. He'd all but beat the bushes while they were docked on Persephone, trying to scare up a pilot he'd rather let near _Serenity_. They'd put out the word on every planet they'd been of late, and had no luck finding a pilot who hadn't heard of Malcolm Reynolds or was willing anyhow to sign on to his ship. He'd asked around about Thrace over the week, and heard enough to keep him away. "Well, here you stand on my doorstep," he mused. "Conjure you got something of import to say."

She glanced at him, and over _Serenity_. She looked at Zoe, who stood impassively behind him. Finally, she dropped her hands and met Mal's gaze. "I could use the work," she admitted, voice steady.

He judged her honest and asked, "Had any experience with a firefly?"

"Not yet," she replied.

Mal moved back and nodded at Zoe. She didn't look too convinced, but she stepped to one side. "This is Zoe," he said. "First mate. Jayne you know."

Jayne stood aghast in the center of the bay. "Mal!" he protested, that grating sound in his voice.

"Nice shiner," Thrace said with a smirk. Mal turned back to her, and she straightened up, stood waiting with her gear bag slung over her shoulder.

"I'll take you on temporary," he told her clearly. "You give us a bit of trouble, we'll feel free to drop you off at the very next port, and I can't guarantee we'll be choosy as to location. We clear?"

"Yes, sir," she replied easily.

Mal glanced up at the scaffolding. As expected, River awaited them, leaning over the top of the rails. Kaylee and Simon stood with her. "Those are the others. Go on up to the bridge and drop your gear where you like. We'll set you up with a bunk once we break atmo."

"Hi," Kaylee called, ready to be friendly. The doc looked confused and his sister looked downright smug.

Kara nodded shortly at Zoe, who stood with her arms crossed and her mouth closed as Kara went up the steps.

"Whole ruttin' ship's gonna be full of women," Jayne grumbled. "And ain't nobody but that lily-livered doctor gettin' sexed by none..." He didn't care much for their company, wondering off with a scowl.

"Care to explain just how your mind changed on this particular, sir?" Zoe demanded. "Last I heard tell, she wasn't the right kind of pilot for us."

Mal shrugged. "Aren't a whole lot of choices knocking on our doors, Zoe." He turned away, intending to be sure his ship got off the ground properly this time out. "Keep as sharp an eye as you like, Zoe. Won't be leaving her in charge of my ship 'less I'm sure she can be trusted."

* * *

She wasn't sorry to take her last breath of rotten, planet-bound air. She hoped to make this job last awhile, and all she had to do was behave herself. How hard was that?

Plenty hard, going by the long string of captains who *hadn't* asked her to stay on.

Most of the crew watched her warily. She'd scoped them out, along with the ship, before she came on board, enough that she knew what they did and how crowded to expect it. Crowds were safer and crime was easy--easier than some of the legitimate jobs she'd taken with real gentlemen those first few months on her own. She'd never been much for chit-chat, but she'd been hired to drive this thing, so she occupied herself with watching closely in the cockpit. Her basic knowledge of the firefly's working controls was bought with her very last credit for Cortex access, and it kept her following along well enough, though all their labels were worn off or dirty. "River's not our pilot by trade," Reynolds eventually explained, though the girl broke atmo whisper-smooth in the first few minutes after Kara boarded his ship. "She is, however, our resident mathematical genius, and the reason you don't have to plot our flight patterns." He rested a hand on the inside wall as he continued, "Take the time to get to know _Serenity_. She'll do just 'bout anything you ask of her, though not everything all the time. I expect my pilot to know how to ask and when."

River said little, but she seemed happy enough to let Kara sit and watch. The first time Mal left them alone, she handed over control of the ship and sat curled up in her chair and silent, retaking the helm just moments before the captain appeared back on the bridge. It amused Kara that he didn't want her touching his ship. She didn't know if the man expected her to take it to war or crash it, but it didn't matter. Long as she got paid.

 _Serenity_ was too small--not as small as some, the ships she'd only lasted on a week--but there was no place to run, and hardly any place to walk in the middle of the night when she couldn't sleep. She had a private bunk, not far from the cargo bay, and she took to walking up and down the cold, dim hold, getting used to the artificial gravity. No ship felt the same, and she hadn't been up in a couple weeks. The ground still felt too near. The first time Mal caught her out there, she half expected trouble from him. It gave her a strange feeling to be watched by him, knowing he doubted her intentions more than she his. The first time he'd crossed Lem's bar and spoke to her with his eyes assessing her face and not her breasts, she'd known he wouldn't drive her off his ship with lust. "Believe there's a ball of some sort in the first compartment under the stairs," was all he said.

They ate their meals together, and she was expected to be there. It had never been part of the deal on any other ship. The food was about what she was used to, but the togetherness was a bit much. Kaylee, the mechanic, tried to be welcoming but just put Kara off. Kaylee's boyfriend, the doctor, kept trying to pull out Kara's chair until eventually she protested. On her other side sat Jayne, still irritable and usually playing with the tines on his fork when she was near him.

Kaylee tried to work stories out of her. "You've met everybody, now. Seen the ship. It's your turn to tell us how you came to be on the rim. What was it like where you come from?"

Kara hadn't been interrogated since she was discharged. Most people on the rim were too busy with themselves, which was how she liked it. "It was...not so different," she said finally. "Lived on a battlestar called _Galactica_. They're a lot bigger than this." She took another bite of food.

"Must be hard leaving behind everything you were used to, coming to a whole new galaxy and all."

Kara kept her head down. "It's not so bad. Food's better." It was mostly a lie, though she had seen some real fruit here and there. But Kaylee's eyes widened and she exclaimed in Chinese, which Kara had learned enough of to understand. Then Kara just shrugged and smiled.

"I'd say that's a proper good omen," Mal said. "As we eat about the same every day."

"'Cept when Jayne's feeling kindly," Kaylee cut in.

"Or guilty," Simon added. Kaylee shot him a look.

"Or when Inara's here." Kaylee tilted her head, like she wasn't supposed to say that but did it anyway. She slid a glance toward the captain, but he was looking away. "Once we had chocolate," Kaylee sighed.

"River tells me you're up to making the landing tomorrow," Mal said, overruling the topic. River looked up with interest.

"Sure," Kara said easily.

Jayne grunted. "You fly as good as you fight, we'll land in pieces."

"You weren't so unfriendly first time we met," she snapped too quickly, making the table tense.

Jayne scowled and opened his mouth.

"No fighting at the table," River declared, without looking up from her dinner plate. Mal was across from Kara at the head of the table, chewing steadily with his eye on them. Kara shrugged. She figured she'd stay on until someone drove her off, like she usually did. But she didn't plan it'd be Jayne. Jayne was too frakking easy.

She left him glowering and went back to her dinner.

* * *

Mal was not a blind man, and his vision would have to be a sight more impeded not to see what was happening in his ship. He expected Kaylee and Simon would run their course eventually, as desirous as he was not to have to see it. Their carrying-on ought rightly to match the span of Zoe's grief, he thought sometimes, knowing it wasn't quite correct. He owed Zoe, and could he ever suss out what she might want, he'd set himself to do it. But Zoe was a blunted arrow, directing herself normally about the ship. Zoe hadn't bent under what she felt, but there was an unfocused look in her eyes that made him a less confident man. He feared the price they were paying for her grief, and it didn't bother him little that his ship was in the hands of a stranger, neither. They'd had plenty weeks as bad, but he expected there were few worse.

He wasn't feeling a particular abundence of optimism when they landed at their next port, though they settled ground-side real easy. Didn't open up their bay to the world until the last minute, as the place was covered in wind-stirred grit, and not real friendly to internal gears. Most of the inhabitants of the planet did their business indoors, though the business of smugglers with a ship full of liberated goods was welcome so long as the business came to them.

River came running from the bridge, all excitement, and loaded herself into the mule. Zoe had elected to stay with the ship, which never failed to make him uneasy. "Wouldn't you rather have River stay, sir? Take the pilot along with you, use another set of arms."

"You got some pertinent reason for not wanting Kara to do the flying on this job, Zoe?"

"Not that I don't like her, sir," she said evenly. "There's a reserve about her I find disquieting, is all."

"Time's as good as any to rise above," he replied, climbing aboard. "Girl won't be looking to run off on this planet, we being all the airtraffic for the month. And 'less River works real hard to scare off Nolan, there ain't no way we'll need a fast break. Just be ready for our signal," he directed her. "See you later."

Zoe stepped back from the craft, wordless, as he flew out of the bay. His conscience troubled him a bit, but he put it out of his head. Wouldn't do to get emotional in front of Nolan. Man was already plenty protective of his product.

River put her hand on his shoulder, leaning against him. "Dark shadows," she said, raising her voice over the wind. "In the corner of your eye. Let them loose, they'll fill the ship like butterflies."

Mal nodded to the girl, not sorry to have her at his side. There'd be nothing to see for miles before they got to the meet, tucked in a valley below the storm of dust. Wouldn't harm none if River saw trouble coming before they got right to it.

"We have nothing left to fear," she added softly in his ear.

He brushed her away gently. "Almost there, little one," he said. But he supposed she knew that already. The girl was helpful, but uncanny as hell.

In the back, Jayne cocked his gun loudly. "I could do with some killin'," he mused. "Think I can shoot somebody today, Mal?"

Mal kept his eyes on what little road he could see, and said, "I aim to make sure you can't, Jayne."

River's head was turned toward the back. "The eggs haven't cracked," she said, then clarified, "Get ready."

"I'm always ready," Jayne growled. Every so often, Jayne forgot to keep a civil tongue in his head. Mal expected he'd have to be reminding him again.

"Talking to Vera," River replied, and then they came over the final hill. Nothing looked suspect, the ridge giving them a spot of relatively clean air and a bowl of clear ground to land where a quiver of men stood looking mighty respectable.

In his experience, fellows who tried so hard to look respectable rarely were, particularly when they were gentlemen who sold manure for a living. But Nolan was a usual exception. They'd dealt with him before, once or twice, and only when desperate for the work. Smell tended to linger aboard ship for weeks on end.

Nolan shook his hand heartily. "Not to figure I don't want the business, Malcolm...but I've yet to see a soul take on this cargo that had any other choice, you know what I'm saying?"

Mal smiled back, flashing teeth. "I do indeed, Nolan. You know me, I love a challenge." He paused to set up the joke. "The challenge is keeping my crew on with this sort of job." They both laughed. Heartily.

Mal was not ordinarily a man who enjoyed glad-handing. But nor was he a man who liked to starve.

One of the others, less sensitive, interrupted. "Where is your ship?"

"Parked not far." Mal crossed his arms. "My people aimed to pick up a few things in town. Small necessities, you know how women get, time to time."

Jayne shuffled his feet, anxious not to hear about women's necessities, most likely. Mal kept smiling. "We doing business?"

"Sure 'nough..."

"You might need a hand loading up, you know," the rude one interjected. Mal was getting a wary feeling as to the young man's intentions. He not only looked hoary-eyed and antsy, he kept looking River over with a certain sort of appetite. River stared back at him, unblinking.

"Got myself plenty of hands," Mal replied. "Sure won't impose on you gents for a job I can do myself."

"Mal..." Nolan spoke, reluctant. "We've fallen on hard times around these parts, you know. Not so much product piling up, not so much demand coming in. I've never so much as been off this moon, my wife's never seen a city. We need to branch out, you know, carry our product to new markets."

"Think that's what you've hired me for, Nolan."

"Right, Mal, right." Nolan paused, rubbing his chin. "See, Mal. This is the way it is, you know. I got kids now, did I tell you?"

"Sure didn't, Nolan." Mal glanced at Jayne. "I'm mighty pleased to hear it. I'm sure you make a fine Pa, train those kids up right and they'll stay your course."

"Take them astray and they'll forever roam," River added softly. Her voice was nearly carried away on the wind.

A couple of Nolan's youngsters chortled and made what he expected were rude comments, out of his hearing.

Mal crossed his arms. "There a problem I'm not seeing yet, Nolan? Because I conjured this to be a simple transaction between business folk."

"Not any more, old man." One of Nolan's respectable companions drew a gun, and the others followed. Nolan held up his hands helplessly.

"Old!" Mal repeated, outraged.

They were forced to spend the next hour at gunpoint, uncomfortable in the hot sun. Mal was quite put out by Nolan, not merely for his plan to steal his ship, but for being so sorry about it. He kept insisting he'd only come around to the idea after a great deal of convincing.

One of the youngsters kept bothering River, but eventually she kicked him in the groin. Before he could cry out, _Serenity_ loomed large above the ridge. Jayne leaped for Vera before Mal could shout out, and Mal was especially annoyed that he couldn't punch Nolan's lights out himself. River took down the others, leaving Mal standing around unmanfully, but the lot were better thinkers than Mal gave them credit for and two more of them popped out of ground-cover at the base of the ridge. Mal saw this from his position in the dirt, brought down just before the shooting began by River's hand. River, laid beside him, whispered, "She's broken. Sorry."

 _Serenity_ settled, pouring a wave of dust over the rim, and the three of them seemed to be surrounded again, hooligans more or less intact.

His ship was sitting with back end to the dip, exposing her broadside but hiding her hatch. Mal expected Zoe would be in defensive position any moment now. He looked around for his gun. River squirmed and he felt warm metal against his wrist, the girl tucking it up into his palm.

Turned out, he didn't much need it, though. Once the shooting started from above, two men went down at once, another two with the second round. By the time Mal was on his feet, the others threw their hands up right smart. He might as well have enjoyed a leisurely nap, though he felt resentful that he'd be sneezing up dust for some time now.

"What's the use of having the gorram girl with us if she don't do anything?" Jayne roared, frantically scuttling around in the dirt. He was picking up pieces of his gun.

Mal looked at River, who blinked innocently. She pointed at the ship, resting peacefully on the ridge. " _Serenity_ came."

Jayne scowled, cradling his broken gun. "What?" he demanded.

"I don't chew my cabbage twice," River sniffed, picking her way past him. "And I don't handle animal by-product!" she called over her shoulder. "I'll send Simon back."

Zoe was marching down the ridge toward him, bent almost backward by the angle of the descent. "Guess we know now why the dirt's so red on this damn moon, sir."

"Timely entrance, Zoe."

Zoe stopped in front of him, squinting from the sun and covered in fine silt. She paused to gnaw on her reply. "She flew fine," she said. She started on past him. "Shoots damn straight, too. Didn't hit you once."

Mal started to slide down the hill after her. He and Nolan still had a deal to discuss. "All part of my brilliant plan."

"What brilliant plan is that, Captain?" She followed along with him. "The one I made brilliant by saving your hide at the last minute, perhaps?"

"That's the one, Zoe."

"That's what I thought, sir."

* * *

Mal was not a particularly patient man, but from time to time he was capable of contenting himself with the quietness of his ship, the smoothness of his journey, and faith in his crew. Seemed some number of them had taken a shine to their new pilot. River believed the ship liked her, and the girl was a gorram reader so he took her more face value than most. When she said Kara sparked while she was flying, he turned to look and saw it was true. She might never look right sitting in Wash's chair, but sometime over the week she'd been, it stopped seeming wrong to have her there.

It was the end of the week and they were still flying, so he pulled a bottle of liquor out of hiding late one evening and offered to pour her a drink. "Conjure you'd be missing this," he remarked.

She grinned, bright and hard around the edges. "How'd you guess," she said, throwing her leg around a chair.

"Have to keep it hid from Jayne," Mal admitted. He sat down at his usual place at the table and poured for both of them. He lifted his glass in a casual toast. "Call this a proper welcome."

She raised an eyebrow as she drank. "No more trial period?" she asked, wiping her mouth with the back of her hand.

He didn't aim to reassure her on that count, so he merely poured again. She smiled lazily as she got into her third, and he kept apace with her. "Want to know something funny? You're so worried about my past with the military..."

He shook his head in denial. "I was a military man myself, for a fair piece of tiem."

She paused. "War for Unification, right?" He nodded shortly.

She swirled her glass slowly. "Second Cylon wars," she said, gesturing to herself. "And third. And fourth." She shrugged. "What'd they call you--Browncoats, right?"

He grunted, finishing his drink.

"I'm not really suited for civilian life, you know," she commented. "Too many unwritten regs. I was a screw-up in the military, too, but what were they going to do, fire me?"

He considered her, resting her head on one hand. Hands that were rough and had seen hard work, her nails as ragged as his. Her eyes were still clear. He poured her another drink. "I hear tell you've gotten fired off plenty of ships since then."

She shrugged. "Personality conflicts," she drawled. She tilted her glass to him. "You've heard the story, right? We came to find Earth?"

He acknowledged it. He'd heard precious little beside it, though few months back, it'd been all the 'verse could talk about. Bitterness over land and yarns about robots.

"Had a map and everything," she said, watching him with a little grin. "Had a frakking word from god--the gods--whoever." She shrugged and tilted the rest of her drink into her mouth, near to licking bottom when she stopped. "So we made it here, and you know what they told us when we arrived?" She spread her hands. "Too late. Earth got used up." She started to laugh. "It was here, but we missed it." Shrug. "Oops. Guess it wasn't god, after all."

"Damn tragedy," he said dryly.

"Yeah, and the Alliance was so sympathetic," she giggled loudly, wiping the corner of her mouth, maybe slurring slightly.

He snorted. She laughed again, and shoved her glass toward him. He picked it up. "Zoe!" he greeted his first mate, as she appeared when he was pouring his own refill. She surveyed them silently. "Earth got used up, did you hear?"

"Believe I have, sir," she said. She walked past them, into the kitchen, having no part in their foolishness. Kara leaned her nose into the glass of liquor and stared at it.

Zoe came back with a glass.

"Zoe!" Mal waved her off, sitting up. "What are you doing? We can't both be drunk at the same time!"

"Think you better stop then, sir, 'cause I aim to start." She poured her glass and held it up. "To Wash," she said simply. "My husband," she added, for Kara's benefit. She drank. Mal followed after a moment, and Kara sat still looking at Zoe.

She raised her eyes from her glass and met Kara's steadily, their silence a heaviness between them. Kara picked up her own and looked at it, over-long contemplation considering the dullness of the shine. "To Anders," she said quietly. "My husband."

Mal pushed his glass away and let the two women drink their toast.

"To the others," Kara said, and finished hers. She overturned her glass, setting it back on the table, and leaned on it. Zoe didn't linger none, getting up and stowing her glass quietly. She walked back to her bunk on steady feet, without looking back, and Mal picked his mug up between two fingers and peered at it before finishing the swallow. There were some gone and missing that well-deserved a stiff drink. It was good a man didn't have to drink to them by himself. He set his glass down and thought it seemed time to conclude the evening.

Kara turned his head with her fingers, soft and surprising on his chin, and brought her lips to his.

"Fancy this weak rotgut's gone to your head," he said, midly taken aback and his lips still brushing hers. "I don't hold with crew grappling crew on my ship."

She laughed in his face and was forced to catch her breath. Her eyes, this close up, were still bright and unjaundiced. "Right," she said, pulled away and got up slowly, pushing off the table with her hands.

He reached out to her, thinking she needed a steady hand.

She grinned. "Think I ought to be able to manage a few feet on even ground." She saluted with two fingers against her forehead. "Goodnight, Captain."

* * *


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Some people gotta find their own way in the 'verse. But if a man needs a pilot and a pilot needs a ship, could be they'll find their way together.

Kara woke up the next morning alone. Fortunately, her head was clear. Her ability to hold her liquor was hard-earned and had kept her out of tight spots with captains before, but it also left her high-strung and moody. She hauled herself to a seated position and looked at the time. She'd prefer to sleep closer to the bridge, but she supposed they kept her in the lower part of the ship hoping she'd be less trouble. She used the toilet and checked out her matted hair in the cracked mirror, fluffed it a little and called it serviceable. The next challenge was finding a serviceable outfit. She had her threadbare tanks, two pair of pants, her jacket, her C-Bucks sweatshirt, socks and underwear. Only the underwear she was wearing had been bought within the last year. She hated all the clothes she'd seen for sale in this crappy 'verse, and a few months back had started to seriously regret not tracking down all the Fleet-issue clothing items that were discarded in their mad rush to fit in. She'd noticed right away the Alliance was anxious to make the Colonials look like any other damn citizen. Others never got why it bothered her--and probably never would. She wished she hadn't cared.

And she really wished she had a cigar to smoke right now.

Kara had decided to frak Mal. She hadn't had a good frak in awhile--a *long* while--and a few hours of dead sleep didn't make her forget the slow burn that bloomed like the booze inside her skin and informed her she wanted him. The itch hadn't gone away with the light head, and she hadn't been turned down in a long frakking time, either, so she was just irritated enough to ignore good sense. Sleeping with her commander never got her anywhere, but she was always just stupid enough to not care.

She arrived at breakfast all friendliness, watching Mal with strategy in mind, giving no hint of her imminent plan. But Mal was either a terrible drinker or more affected than he put on, because he was in a foul mood. Kaylee and Simon stumbled in late, as they were often, and Mal gave them a more pointed once-over than he ever had. "Much as I endeavor not to see the goings-on in my engine room, I surely don't have to abide the two of you come untucked to the table." He gestured impatiently. "Set yourself to rights, and Kaylee, I don't want to hear giggling this time neither."

Simon sputtered in embarassment, but Kaylee was still amused. "That's alright, honey. He's been in a bad mood since Inara left again. Some folks can't appreciate--"

"Reckless behavior? Foolish carrying-on all over my ship?" Mal demanded. "You remember what you were hired to do aboard this boat, little Kaylee, because I swear to you the moment you neglect your duties, you'll be left in the next port same as anybody else." He tossed down his napkin and stood up. "We'll be two weeks to the next one. Ain't too soon to plan." He marched himself off to the bridge, and left Kaylee and Simon looking stunned. Kara looked across the table at Zoe, matching her blank face.

"Old girlfriend?" Kara asked.

"I can't believe he talked at me like that!" Kaylee exclaimed. "What's wrong with the captain, Zoe?"

"Could be you oughten bring Inara up so much, Kaylee," Zoe said. "Trying to make it what it's not. Captain got that tamped down, you keep stirring it up."

Simon put his hand on Kaylee's shoulder. "The Captain would never put you off this ship, Kaylee," he said reassuringly."Me, on the other hand..."

"Simon, Cap'n woulda set you off long ago if he really wanted that."

"Don't either of you go reassuring yourselves," Zoe interrupted, tone brooking no argument. "Fussing won't get the job done." She replaced her knife and fork back beside her untouched plate and stood up. "What isn't working does us harm. Captain's not wrong asking you to get your heads screwed back on."

Jayne wandered in from the direction of his bunk, Zoe brushing him aside as she left. He headed for the food on the table, oblivious to the faces he passed in single-minded interest.

Kara reached for the last ship biscuit the moment before he did, and slipped away from the table without a word to take her shift. River was just leaving when Kara reached the bridge. She quirked her eyebrows at Kara oddly, but said nothing. "Hi," Kara said to Mal, taking River's seat in the co-pilot's chair. She pinched off a lump of hard tack in her hands. "You get bit by something last night in bed?"

He glanced at her sharply. "Interesting question, Major Thrace."

She looked away, frowning. "You looked me up?" She paused. "I thought they classified all that."

"Alliance locked it up real tight, which by-the-by is not soothing me. Only offers a note as to your rank."

"Former rank."

"As you say." His expression says clearly that the distinction is dubious at best. Her temper flares.

"Hey, I don't know what your hang up is about my military experience, but if you're looking for an excuse to throw me off your ship, I bet I can come up with a hell of a better one."

"I won't have any member of my crew answering split loyalties, ain't no way to stop one dividing the other. Crew has to answer to just one captain, 'n that's me." The fierceness in his voice only made Kara angrier.

"I've taken orders from a lot of high-handed Commanders in my time. I was loyal to every frakking one I served under, fit or not, and I only trusted one, but you really out-do them all. I don't know *how* to be loyal to two things at once," she said with bitterness.

He crossed his arms as she sat glaring at him, seeking out her rucksack in her mind. She kept her things packed when they weren't on her back, and her bag was tucked under the foot of her cot.

"You've raised a curiosity, Kara. You follow orders as you see fit or you follow a captain who gives fit orders?"

She rolled her eyes. "Sounds like the same thing." She turned away. "You going to let me do my job, or what?"

He said nothing for a few minutes and she ignored him. He was alarming in the upfront way he confronted problems. She definitely got the vibe the question was settled, but she couldn't shake the fear he was up to something else. Eventually, he pushed himself up out of the pilot's chair, saying, "S'pect I ought to get my money's worth, at that," and left.

Kara curled her hands into fists and gritted her teeth. She didn't know how to deal with this. He demanded answers and accepted them in the same breath. He didn't trust her and he clearly didn't resent it. He wouldn't sleep with her and he didn't treat her any different. And if Kara Thrace had learned one thing, it was that peace wasn't safe.

* * *

"We'll be wanting to pass through subtle-like the Alliance blockade 'round this planet." Mal leaned over Kara at the wheel. "They seem to get a kick out of checking papers and legal-shaped documents, of which we have none."

Kara looked back at him. "No problem. Low and fast work for you?"

"Should, at that," he replied. He shot a glance toward the other empty chair. "Where's River gotten to?"

"She said something about going down in flames and left."

Mal caught himself before he fell on the floor of the bridge, looking at her with slack face. She smirked. He felt compelled to remind her who was captain and how yanking the captain's legs out from under him was not a sign of respect, but she did seem to be the only pilot immediately available with hope of getting this ship down safe. He grit his teeth. She laughed, watching atmo break across their bow.

"Girl's got a way of getting her point across that isn't always clear outside her head," he said finally, forced to grab hold of her chair as the ship vibrated wildly.

"I noticed that," Kara replied. "Here we go, I'm shooting down to that canyon."

Mal cringed. "Wished you wouldn't use the word 'shoot'..." The ship dropped like a stone, right out from under him, and right through the radar zone, he'd guess. He found himself still on his feet just under cover of the valley, sun just going down over the craggy plains ahead. "Could be bandits in these," he warned her. "Strafing fire from either side."

She nosed the ship up, just as they near got tagged on the port side. "Frak," she murmured, flying true to center. "How high can we go before the Alliance picks us up?"

He was buckling himself into River's chair, checking monitors. "You get above ground and they'll see us," he said, reading numbers off.

She was quiet a moment, watching the flare of fire falling short of their broadside. "Oh, please," she said with sudden bravado. "I can skate on that much space." With that, she brought her hands up on the stick and the ship lifted away from the ground.

"That space ain't no bigger than this ship," he snapped across at her. "You get an inch above and they'll have us." He kept his eyes glued to the screen, cursing in his head. Damn fool military pilots, thinking all the time with their sleek jets. No getting around it, and he knew it well enough from the start.

"I won't get...an inch...above," she drawled; sounded like she was panting or licking her lips, but he didn't look up. "How'm I doing?"

"Keep her steady," he replied. He rested his hand on his ship, touching her gentle so she wouldn't start. _Serenity_ was gliding along smooth as anything he'd ever seen. "There," he said finally. "We should be out of range, and our landing spot's just under this second ridge, tucked down close to the valley."

She didn't respond, but the ship did, dropping at increments until they floated slow over the landing space and touched ground with no bounce on the landing gear. Mal found his ability to speak caught up in his dry throat, and it was as well he didn't have need it.

Kara touched his ship's panelling, looking more'n a little impressed. "Good girl," she said, with a surprised turn to her voice. She laughed, soft and a mite breathless.

Mal watched her, mighty surprised himself. He stood up and she never glanced at him, standing there. He left to give her a moment alone, smiling to himself as he went.

After supper, after ignoring Jayne's complaints about being two days early, after watching Zoe push food around her plate and Kaylee refuse talking to Simon, Mal was in no mood to abide the company of his crew any longer. He made it clear he was headed for his bunk and an early night, catching up to Kara in the corridor as she escaped for solitude as well. He touched her elbow and brought her up short. "Surprises me, Kara, that you spend so much time alone. I had you pegged for a social sort."

She snorted. She crossed her arms and scratched idly at her chin. "Only when I can get them drunk, beat them at cards, or beat them up as I see fit." She smirked. "Otherwise, it seems like a real waste of time." She turned to part ways with him there, but he reached out again. She looked at him, part doubt and part impatience, but no wariness in her expression.

"Join me in my bunk," he said, and watched for that gleam to come in her eyes. She turned her back on him once more, and put a swagger to her hips in the one stride over to open his hatch, skimming right down his ladder.

She reached bottom seconds before he did, and had her shirt peeled off before he'd gotten that far with his thoughts. Startled him enough to realize her forwardness the other night hadn't been so much the alcohol as the girl himself, and it relieved him somewhat. He could see this woman was a force to be reckoned with, nothing coy about her as she pressed herself to his chest giving no thought to wielding her assets. He kissed her once, not getting too lost, and put his hands around her arms, making her step back. She was a damn fine woman, standing there with bright eyes and a strangely innocent face. He rubbed his hand up and down her arm, and as he did he glanced over the tattoo that covered one entire bicep.

Certainly, he'd noticed the marking before, but never asked about it, anyone having a right to secrets of a private sort. She smiled slightly at his touch, making no motion to volunteer the story, and he held his peace. She was a sinuous bundle of motion, lifting her hips against him and pressing the small of his back. Her face was all lit up and curious as she ran her fingers across his body in return, feeling out his scars even as he found hers. Merely to touch had a rightness to it that didn't require talk. She traced patterns with fingers and toes and followed suit with tongue, and he found himself inspired to do the same, curled up tight with her there in his bunk and not hardly any room to get creative, yet they made room for each other, twisting and turning and fitting until coming together seemed the natural thing. Her voice was gentle, a steady hum in his ear, letting him know how he was treating her. She was responsive to his touch, to the movement, as sensitive as a ship but prettier laid out on his pillow. She rested her hands around his neck and murmured, "Captain," a tremble of laughter in her breast, as he leaned his nose against her shoulder and breathed heavy. He rolled off her and smiled, trying to think of something witty to remark. She turned onto her side and looked him up and down, a look in her eye that said she wasn't nearly done. Then to kiss her again weren't nothing but a kindness, and nothing witty to be said about it at all.

* * *

He'd been keeping a wary eye on the goings-on between Jayne and his new pilot, with the desire that any unpleasantness happen right in front of him rather than somewhere he couldn't shoot them. Seemed Jayne and Kara were both more inclined to get tetchy when things were quiet, so it didn't surprise him in particular to come across the two of them boxing in the cargo bay. Did, however, surprise him that he had to haul himself out of bed to find her there in the middle of the night.

Mal leaned on the catwalk spanning the bay. For the moment, it seemed the pleasant way to let it be. Momentarily, Simon joined him, leaning on the rails nearby. Mal let it pass without comment, though the young man looked far from entertained. It hadn't escaped his notice that a discord had sprung up between Simon and Kaylee, following the words he spoke over their relationship. It seemed his young mechanic might well have kicked him out of her bed, and Mal, fresh from a groggy rest and wearing his boots but otherwise barely dressed, felt no need to stick his nose in.

"I reckon little Kaylee'll get over it, Doctor. 'Less of course she aims to talk you into leaving, settling down somewhere isolated on the ground or some other ship." Well, he was the captain. It was his prerogative to know what went on, on his very own ship.

Simon sighed, heavy with weariness. "I'm not leaving, Captain. I couldn't, not with River the way she is."

The falseness grated with Mal, just as it always had. "Imagine you and your sister are in as much danger as you ever were, Doctor, from the men in white coats with their needles, but I s'pect the Alliance itself has other things to be worried about just now. Moving about should be a sight easier, should you care to travel."

Simon looked at him and nodded, slowly. "I didn't mean that, though, Captain. I meant--how she feels. About _Serenity_." He brushed one finger over the top of his nose, a sign of discomfort. "It's home now."

Mal glanced him over, the man-boy who, in more than one ways, ought not be standing here by his side. Simon didn't duck his head, and he didn't flush with the protective instinct that'd long been the double-sided burr in Mal's side. Could be he'd learned something, after all this time. Mal wouldn't begrudge him the lesson.

"We'll do whatever we need to, to stay," Simon finished. Mal nodded shortly.

"See that you do, Doctor." He left him to jog down the scaffolding. Kara and Jayne didn't look as he came up wto them. "Seems to me far too few people on this boat are sleeping, while it's yet dark outside and no use us heading into town for a meal."

Kara stepped out of Jayne's reach before she glanced at him. "Is there an order in that somewhere?"

Jayne snorted, stepping in too quickly. Kara struck him across the chin, but he got under her arm before she moved back.

"Hey!" She held her stomach.

"Don't suppose Jayne knows any fancy rules," Mal remarked, "but I hope you two are pulling your punches. Last thing I need is two members of my crew taking each other out."

She shrugged and swung her shoulders, loosening up. The antsy energy was pouring off her, same as every other night he'd caught her down here. Girl had trouble getting rest, that was plain to see. "All in fun, Captain."

Jayne watched her narrowly. "Yeah, Mal," he repeated.

"Be that as it may," Mal said, stepping between them. "There's a few hours before dawn, and you should be about getting some sleep."

Jayne opened his mouth to whine. "Go on," Mal waved him off. "Two of you can finish hitting each other later." He went to open the storage box so they could drop their gloves back in, and saw that Jayne took himself upstairs. Mal was slow about following, but didn't wait about for direction. Half way up, he noticed Kara was heading the other direction. "Hey," he called down to her.

She glanced up at him. "Off to get my two hours of laying down with my eyes closed, Captain," she smirked. Her hair was stuck to her face and her eyes were dark and tired. She kept moving.

"I find the ceiling in my bunk can put a man right to sleep. Or woman, be that as it may," he added, magnanimously.

She grinned and whirled on her foot, dashing right up to him without hesitation. She was leaning in to kiss him, closed-mouth. "I don't know, Captain. Didn't seem so bad to me."

"S'pect you just weren't trying hard enough."

Her eyes lit up at the challenge. "Okay," she agreed, and threaded her fingers inside his unbuttoned shirt. "C'mon, then."

* * *

The town saloon doubled for a general store, the two of them taking up the largest and busiest building in town. Simon tried to get out of going, offering to stay with the ship, but Zoe out-ranked him, and ignored the look Mal shot her when she said she'd stay behind. Kara knew there was a story to Simon's hesitance to go out in public, but no one had ever volunteered to tell it, and she didn't particularly care to know. River was too excited about stepping out to eat to get too worried, anyhow.

Kaylee was still making a big show out of ignoring Simon, and only walked with River when the younger girl took her arm. Simon lagged behind and from where she walked with Mal, Kara could hear well enough Jayne deliving a harangue which Simon mostly tried to ignore. Kara grinned and watched Simon's attempts to fall out of step with the bigger man, Jayne oblivious to all social niceties.

"Reckon a better man would try to rescue the young doctor," Mal remarked eventually.

Kara laughed, light and airy in the fresh air. It was the first time in years she'd walked on the ground willingly, not afraid she'd never be back in the air. "Let him see to himself," she said. "Or you'll embarrass him."

Mal smiled slightly. "Can't have that."

At the wide porch of the big, clapboard building, Simon stopped and spun about to face Jayne. "I do *not* think a man has to stand up to his 'woman,' as you say, in order to get respect. I believe men and women are capable of coming to some sort of--arrangement--out of mutual respect, and in that way they can find some measure of peace or--or--agreement." His eyes blazed back at Jayne, and he opened his mouth to continue, when Kaylee fell into his side and grabbed his arm.

"It's alright, honey," she said with a wide smile. "You don't have to make fancy speeches to get me back."

Simon looked perplexed, as Kaylee pulled him with her through the entrance. River pinched Jayne as he went by. "Ow!" He jerked back and she danced out of the way before Mal had to jump in. "What was that for?" Jayne whined, rubbing his arm.

River smirked. "You know what." She rolled her eyes enigmatically and followed Kaylee and Simon in. Jayne looked at Mal beseechingly.

Kara laughed outright. "Never pegged you for a romantic, Jayne."

Jayne scowled. He said something like, "damn women running the ship," under his breath, going in ahead of them.

Kara nudged Mal. "Nice crew you got, Captain."

"Have noticed that," he replied.

They sat around a table--all six--and ate real eggs, presumably from real chickens, and apples, which were the only thing that grew on this planet and were readily available. The apples were, in fact, what Mal intended to trade the load of fertilizer for, assuming things actually went to plan the next day.

Kara wandered the general store with Kaylee and Simon, Kaylee with a better idea what they'd need and Mal holding the purse strings tight. A ship was never so well stocked they didn't need odds and ends, something for the ship, or something to replenish the food supply. Kara was well acquainted with how fast a reasonable pantry could become short supply. Mal and Jayne were asking the storekeeper about scrap metal outside, and Kaylee was working on Simon over a piece of pottery, when River jerked around and looked at the door, alarmed. Kara turned, but there was the dining room still packed and the doors were flung wide, men out on the porch smoking lazily. Kara herself was fingering a dusty box of cigars.

"What's the matter, River?" Kara asked absently. Mal looked up, accounted for his group quickly, and tensed when he locked eyes with the girl. Kara dropped the box.

The doorway was full of men in uniforms, swarming into the store. The storekeeper stepped in front of them. "Gentlemen, are you here to eat or on business?"

"We're here to apprehend--"

Kara paced forward enough to cover the three behind her, hand dropping to the gun on her hip, and the official's eyes landed on her hard. "Keep your hands away from your weapon," he snapped, three of them coming toward her from each side. "Present your papers."

"Sir." Another held up a scan-screen in front of the speaker, and he gestured at the two confiscating her gun. They took her by the arms, not gentle.

"Kara Thrace, you are bound by law and will be held for questioning."

"On what charge?" she demanded, being manhandled into cuffs behind her back.

"You will be detained until such time as you are officially charged by the Alliance."

She struggled, just for the sake of it. "So just any old trumped up charge, as usual, huh? Frakking great," she growled. "I bet I know exactly what it says on the order, too..." She met Mal's eyes as they shoved her out the doors, not making it too obvious, just saying goodbye.

* * *

Zoe could tell right off that something was wrong. She looked from one to the other and asked, "Where's Kara?"

Mal gazed back at her impatiently, headed for the arms locker. Zoe followed on his heels. "Sir. How do you aim to handle this?"

"Aim to get her out, Zoe." He didn't pause on his way through the ship, just letting her follow along. He expected he was a good deal too het up over this, but he'd been having a fine morning, and those damn local yokels had gone and ruined the afternoon, as well.

"They'll have sent word to the Alliance by now. If Alliance wants her bad enough, reinforcements can be here within the hour. You think you can get out of this without making us a target again?"

Mal stopped and turned back to her. "Can't leave her here, Zoe. Not no more."

Zoe met his eyes dispassionately. "I understand, sir."

He didn't know how she could, when he wasn't sure his own self. But a thing had to be done, and he aimed to do it. Wasn't going to let the girl be run off on the Alliance say-so.

Zoe seemed to hesitate a moment, before she reached out and touched the back of his hand. "Mal." Her eyes were warm. Well, she always did have an easier time accepting this sort of thing than he did.

He sighed. "Zoe...I'm not sure and proper it's the best thing. Not even sure we need the girl."

Zoe stopped him, raising the same hand. "I'm sure, sir." She nodded shortly. "Let's get suited up and see if we pick up any noise."

Jayne popped around the corner behind her and hurried past both of them. "I'll get Vera." he called over his shoulder. "We owe her!"

Zoe raised an eyebrow at him pointedly. Mal shrugged. Man was happy to have his gun back together again. Nothing wrong with that.

River was watching the scanner up on the bridge. Mal handed over her guns and she rechecked them as he looked it over himself. "You should wait," she said.

"What's that?" The scan was clear, no Alliance signal yet.

"Wait," she repeated. "Watch and see."

"No use waiting when the only thing to happen's no good," Mal replied.

She shook her head, holding the guns in her lap, shoulders bowed over them "Stop now, it'll never be done," she said softly.

Mal looked down at her, troubled. "River...if I go on your say-so, we may never get another chance."

She raised her eyes and said nothing. He'd told the girl he valued her opinion, and she accepted his word. Mal put his hand on the back of her chair and rubbed his eyes. The girl's was a confidence he felt none of just now.

* * *

Across the street from the sheriff's department was the run-down office building of Carder's Orchard, their contact for the trade and a place mostly deserted during the day. Mal and Jayne sprawled across the porch, attempting to keep their guns out of sight and the women to the shadows. Zoe and River were with them, and Zoe brought the grenades. She hadn't blinked an eye when Mal told her they were going to sit on the plan for the moment, though Jayne had been none too pleased by the order to recon and wait. "This is a whole lot of staring at a rutting building while no one comes out," Jayne remarked.

Mal grunted. The heat of the sun was baking the crate of shit they'd hauled down main-street and sat nearby conspicuously. He was feeling a mite perturbed himself. The building they were watching sat silent and vulnerable, so far as the morning could tell.

'Round about midday, a small unmarked cruiser landed and Mal shifted in his seat until just the one suit climbed out. He got inside the building and it wasn't more than five minutes before the sheriff and all his posse from breakfast filed out and walked down the street, headed for the general store. Mal turned his head to River, a question in his mind. But she shook her head.

Mal wasn't wholly convinced that the girl could predict what took place inside Kara's holding cell, and Kara's life concerned him enough that he both listened to River's uncanny advice and kept his own counsel. But he could make not heads nor tails of it in his head. Seemed to him she was alone in there, with just the Alliance man. Didn't rightly make any sense.

"Think she was a plant all along?" Jayne asked. Mal finds Jayne's conclusions unpalatable, most times, though often valid. He frowns and keeps his mouth shut.

"Girl wasn't looking to spy," Zoe answered firmly, her voice sounding cool where it came out of shadows. "Know that much for sure."

"Well, what are waiting for, then?" Jayne returned.

Mal squinted through the sun. Eventually, he stood up. "Nothing. We're not waiting anymore. Zoe, take River and place yourselves 'round back. I'll signal if I need you inside. Jayne." He stalked across the street, mindful of the broad daylight and all of town, silent though it was, spread down the street he was crossing. The stairs announced him as he stomped up toward the front door, gesturing Jayne to stand away from him. He knocked, and flung it wide before he got a word in return. The door swung in and he looked around the front room of the Sheriff's office, just a desk and chair and a pot-belly stove, the smell of burnt coffee floating right past him out the door. "Hello? Sheriff?" he called, like a good upright citizen.

The Alliance officer walked out from the back. "Sheriff's down the street at the diner." Wasn't even holding his gun. Mal moved his in front of him and walked on in.

"Well, then," he said, "I'd be looking for a prisoner instead. Pretty little blonde thing, about yea high."

She walked out, untethered, behind. "Mal," she greeted him, with surprise. She stopped by the man's side and he glanced at her, making no move either to detain or bargain.

Jayne peered over Mal's shoulder. "I knew it, she's a spy all along," he announced. He raised up Vera, cradling her to his chest with more irritation with Mal, he supposed, than with Kara herself.

Mal felt no such allowance. "Care to explain?"

"I suppose you came to rescue me," she said instead. "You can see I don't need it." She crossed her arms and stared him down.

Mal reholstered his gun. "I surely can," he replied. "Anything else I should know?"

"We're the only ones here," she said. "Go now and you won't get caught."

"That so." Mal held his ground; not much ground to speak of, but he intended to get his answers here and now.

She widened her eyes and screwed up her face at him, fairly knocking him over the head with the firm impression leaving now really made a sight more sense. He clenched his teeth and looked from one to the other, the man inscrutable and his pilot urgently biting her lip.

"Well, my mistake," he said easily, and swung back out onto the porch. "See you folks later. Have a good day, now." He hurried Jayne back down the steps.

"What the gorram hell was that? You just gonna leave her there? I'd a liked to get 'hold of her."

Mal gestured at Zoe, tucked in around the back corner of the jailhouse, and kept up a steady pace on out of town. Zoe and River met up with them out of sight from the jail.

"I think she knew that Alliance fellow," Jayne observed.

"Girl can be acquainted with somebody Alliance without being one herself," Zoe remarked.

"Changed his stripes," River said. "You can change your clothes but you can't change who you are, just who people see you as."

"We going to wait around to find out?" Jayne demanded.

Mal didn't stop walking. "Just get to the ship."

* * *

Kara walked out to the ship slowly, not overly sure they'd be there waiting. But they were, and Mal stood a length from the ship, watching when she came around the bend, as though he knew she was coming that way. She couldn't help smiling at him a little, more out of surprise than joy. "Hi," she said, strolling up to him. "You get stuck?"

"My pilot didn't make the rendezvous," he replied dryly. He looked her over briefly. She was untouched, a little hot in this sun, but otherwise as he'd seen her last.

"Surprised you didn't leave her behind," she answered. Convinced of that, she'd regretted the loss of her stuff--the few items she had left, from the old days and these as well.

He shook his head silently, making no excuses. "Got to have a little faith, Kara."

Her head jerked. "You're kidding me, right?" she demanded. "We've both lost wars." She glanced back the way she came, rubbing her neck. "We've--some people I lost got killed, and some people became...something else." She flinched away from the words, from the fresh memory of Lee in his pressed uniform, looking like a man who was proud of his job instead of a man who settled. A man who used to believe in *more* than just surviving.

He was nodding acknowledgment. He'd guessed much of what she said, she supposed. Wasn't surprised by it. She glared at him. "I believed until I was blue in the face but we still didn't find Earth. You know why? Because there are no gods. Nobody's telling us where we're going." She raised her hands and dropped them, limply, by her sides. "Faith? Faith in...what."

He gazed back at her impassively. "Can't rightly tell you, Kara. Haven't seen anything to disagree with you. Only know that a man without faith can't stand. Or woman," he added with a little smile. "A man who can't stand himself can't act when he's called upon." He shook his head.

He stepped back toward his ship, and she just shrugged. What else could she do? He was insane. It'd been a long day and she didn't want to fight with him.

"May not know which way I'm going, but we aren't going anywhere just standing still. Get us back in the sky." He gestured toward the ship.

She smiled. "You could probably manage that without me," she said, just telling the truth.

Mal glanced at his crew, and Kaylee stepped forward. "We just like the way you do it," she said, arms wrapped around herself. She looked a little sheepish, but mostly pleased. Kara managed a smile back. She wasn't going to resist.

"Think we might still make our meet tomorrow, long as we don't expect more company," Mal remarked. He put his hand on the small of her back to guide Kara back aboard, and River spoke up. "Fire in summer is for comfort, not necessity." Mal eyed her. She shrugged. "And they all lived happily ever after."

Mal shook his head, Kara watching him. "Not forever, and no guarantee they'd be happy, little one. But maybe they lived." He looked to the sky, judging it fit for flying. "Could be most of them lived on after."

 

The End.


End file.
